Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

The Green Beard Effect

Green_beardLast weekend when I was doing my first post on Pirates of the Caribbean (go see the movie if you haven’t), I was doing some research on Wikipedia about the origin of the phrase "Dead Man’s Chest." I knew it was from a sea shanty, but I didn’t remember the full lyrics of it.

TURNS OUT IT APPEARS TO BE FROM A SHANTY MADE UP BY ROBERT LOUIS STEPHENSON IN TREASURE ISLAND.

Though it may be based on a real-life event involving Blackbeard the pirate.

That got me to thinking: There have been quite a number of pirates known by the color of their beards, but I couldn’t remember which of them were real and which were fictional. (I’m not much of a pirate expert, I’m afraid.)

I remembered hearing about "Bluebeard," for example (I think in a Scooby-Doo cartoon I saw as a kid or something), but I couldn’t remember if Bluebeard was real or fictional. So I Wikipediaed him.

Turns out he was a fictional aristocrat rather than a pirate.

I also remembered that there was a movie about pirates called Yellowbeard (though I never saw that and suspect I wouldn’t like it).

And there’s a comicbook character called Redbeard.

"Just how far does this go?" I wondered. "There can’t be many more pirate characters with colored facial hair designations."

So I typed in "greenbeard" and, sure enough, there was no such pirate.

BUT THERE WAS A SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT KNOWN AS "THE GREEN BEARD EFFECT."

The basic idea is that there might be sets of genes that cause an organism to have a particular characteristic and to be altruistically disposed to other organisms that share that characteristic, even if they are otherwise unrelated. The gene set would thus promote its own replication apart from a close family connection.

For example, suppose that there were a gene set that caused certain humans to have green beards. Such people might form a kind of mutual defense league.

Supposedly they’ve actually documented the green beard effect in, of all things, red fire ants.

I don’t know if they need to look that far, though.

I don’t want to give away any secrets of the Red Headed League, but I’ve noticed that women who are or who used to be red heads often seek to engage me in what I can only describe as "red-head mutual bonding conversations" (e.g., complimenting my hair color, observing that it’s a darker red on the sides of my head than on the top, telling me about their hair color and things they may have done to maintain or accentuate it). Guys don’t do this, but then guys don’t generally talk much about their hair color in my experience (except to complain about gray).

Being a guy, I don’t have much to say in such conversations, but I’ve been struck by the number of times present and former red heads start them with me, and there’s a definite, positive "Hey, we’re two of a kind" vibe that comes across, even from women old enough to be my grandmother and whose hair is now white.

I also suspect that this effect–if I understand it correctly–is all over the place in biology, even across species.

For example, it’s often been remarked that the reason we find puppies and kittens so cute is that they, like our own offspring, have big heads and big eyes compared to their mature forms. Mammals that have big heads and big eyes in infancy get perceived by us as cute and we want to take care of them, which promotes their survival. They trigger the parenting instinct in us.

There thus may be a set of genes that produce the quality of having a big head and big eyes in infancy and that foster altruism toward those organisms that have this quality, even in other species.

Ode To A Cell Phone

Cellphone

It all started with a cheerful electronically-generated voice telling me that my cellular service provider needed to change the SIM card in my phone and could I please come down to the nearest store location so that this could be done?

So, I headed out to the nearest store location I knew of and found out it was no longer in business. Figures. Eventually I found another location and pulled into the lot. When I entered the store I found out that this must have been the day a whole lot of other people were also told to get new SIM cards. I was in for a wait.

After waiting thirty minutes, more or less, and joking with people in line that apparently the store locations were not given the heads-up on the Great SIM Card Switch, I finally handed my phone over to an employee for service.

"Oh," I’m told, "This phone is too old for the new SIM card. You’ll have to get an upgrade."

Yes, the phone I had was old. I originally purchased it in 2000 when I decided that I would rather not hike to a freeway call box if my car broke down by the side of the road somewhere. I ended up using it more than the two or three times in its lifetime I needed to call AAA from a broken-down vehicle, but I never did upgrade the phone. It was clunky and didn’t do much beyond send and receive calls, but that was all I needed.

But the perk to losing a faithful friend would be a free phone, right?

Riiiight.

For a two-year contract and $20 more — after mail-in rebate — I could get a phone that looked somewhat like my old one but was so small it looked like I’d have to hold it to my ear to hear and then move it to my mouth to speak. So, for a mere $40 more — after mail-in rebate (and that two-year contract), don’t forget — I could get a cell-phone that looked like a phone. It also had a camera, which I thought was neat, but didn’t really need.  I would learn later that it also had a confusing host of other features that I am still trying to figure out how to navigate.

After forking over $85 — after tax of almost $15 — I was the owner of a new phone. "Would you like any accessories today?" asked the clerk who should have just given me a new SIM card or a free phone to compensate for my cellular provider’s decision to reprogram their networks in such a way that they could no longer accommodate long-term customers (six years in my case) who had old phones. It was all I could do not to snort.

You may be wondering why I didn’t protest more forcefully. Well, remember that thirty-minute wait? There was another thirty-minute wait behind me and another gentleman was patiently trying to get redress from the clerks who had basically destroyed his phone by putting in a SIM card that restricted his access and couldn’t be replaced by his old SIM card — because, one, they had thrown away the old one; and, two, because they had already transferred his phone’s information to the new, faulty SIM card. In the face of such suffering by fellow customers, it seemed churlish to raise holy hades at having to pay for a new phone.

Why am I telling you all this? To give you the heads-up on what lies ahead should you receive a call or letter asking you to replace your cell phone’s SIM card. What happens should you choose not to replace it? Funny you should ask. A customer put that very question to one of the clerks.

"Well, your service just keeps getting worse and worse until finally you can’t use your phone at all."

NOTE: Now that I have a cell phone I no longer can use, I was intrigued to find out that there is such a thing as a cell-phone recycling program.

Lose Pounds While You Sleep!

Maybe!

In my research on dieting I’ve run across a number of indicators–both in published literature and anecdotally–that suggest weight gain is associated with lack of sleep.

The reasons why are not clear.

Some have suggested that when we don’t get enough sleep it messes with our hormones, which produces weight gain.

Others have suggested that we simply have less time to eat if we’re asleep more.

Or maybe it’s that we don’t burn quite as much energy and so our appetites don’t get stimulated.

Or maybe we’re eating more to try to boost our energy levels when we feel tired during the day.

Or maybe it’s the other way around and people who have weight gain have a harder time staying asleep (in which case forcing youself to get more sleep might not have any effect on your weight).

Whatever the casusality, there seems to be a connection between lack of sleep and being overweight.

GET THE STORY.
(CHT to the reader who e-mailed.)

Unfortunately, I haven’t had the ability to make a really good personal test of the "Get more sleep and lose weight" theory due to my lifelong battle with insomnia.

Hey, wait . . .

Cool Things In Pirates Of The Caribbean 2

Pirates_2_2 So I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest last Saturday (actually, before my pre-written post on it went up) and I thought it really rocked.

It had a bunch of cool stuff in it, some of which I can’t say because it would be too much of a spoiler, but here are some isolated snippets of cool things that won’t give away the plot.

COOL THINGS IN PRACTES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2:

1) Johnny Depp’s performance.

2) The way the crewman finishes the line "The captain is acting strange."

3) Davy Jones (SDG’s really right on this one; Davy Jones has the potential to rival Jabba the Hutt as an iconic image, which is why I’m not posting a picture of him; I don’t want to spoil his entrance)

4) The make-up effects for Davy Jones’s men.

5) In particular the conch-headed man, and especially what he does in his very last appearance in the film.

6) The island escape sequence. MAN, THIS TOTALLY ROCKS! I CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHING LIKE THIS EVER BEING FILMED BEFORE.

7) The "Jack-kabob"

8) The schlorp / shlub sound effects when the suckers on various tentacles are doing things.

9) The unusual "eye makeup"

10) The way that Jack and Elizabeth’s prophecies about each other come true.

11) The "Hello, beastie" moment.

12) The three-way swordfight.

13) The "rolling climax"

14) The humorous cliffhanger.

Don’t know what I’m talking about?

GO SEE THE FILM!

BTW, if the theaters are even half as hectic this weekend as they were last (when the film was selling out right and left), buy your tickes online or over the phone and make a point of showing up a little early.

If you have seen the film, feel free to share your own cool things in the movie. (SPOILERS OKAY since it’ll be in the combox.)

BTW, next summer’s final part of the Pirates trilogy may not be the end of the series.

JOHNNY DEPP HAS INDICATED HE’D BE INTERESTED IN PLAYING THE  PART AGAIN.

Also Coming Soon To An iPod Near Me

Last week I did sometihng I haven’t done in around 20 years–I went to an actual science fiction convention. (More on that later.)

Scott of SFFAudio reminded me of something that I learned at the convention: There is a publishing house that offers ordinary HTML texts of many of the books it sci-fi books it publishes for download–either free or, in some cases, for a subscription fee.

The publisher is Baen, and it’s part of an interesting marketing philosophy that they’re trying out (i.e., letting people read some for free will prime their appetite to also purchase material, so you’ll end up making money).

Ordinary HTML files are great for me (as opposed to the formats many eBooks are published in) because I can easily turn them into audio books using my TextAloud program.

So I’m definitely going to be visiting their site.

CHECK IT OUT.

Coming Soon To An iPod Near Me

A reader writes:

Hello, Mr. Akin –

My name is Scott, and I just noticed on your most recent post that you use
your iPod for audiobooks.  Though I’m sure you listen to a wide variety of
stuff, I know you have an interest in science fiction, so I’d like to point
you to my site, SFFaudio, which features news, reviews, and commentary on
the world of science fiction and fantasy audio.

I’m Catholic, and enjoy your site very much.  My co-editor/website partner
is not a religious believer.

SFFaudio can be found at www.sffaudio.com.  I hope it’s of use to you.

God bless, fellow audiobook fan,
Scott

PS – I’m currently listening to "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell from
Brilliance.  I’m about 1/8 of the way in… it’s interesting that much of
the science fiction that treats religion in a respectful way (rare enough,
indeed) features a Jesuit.  So far, the novel is quite good.

Cool!

Having a site that coordinates sci-fi, etc., audio is a great idea. I looked it over, and there’s a lot of useful resources there.

CHECK IT OUT.

The Presumption Of Faith

A reader writes:

I’ve never heard the term "presumption of faith" used before but in thinking about the issue of Bishops withholding Communion from wayward politicians, it strikes me that the Church applies almost universally this principle (expressed in other ways).

Like presumption of innocence in court, the Church presumes faith when one asks for any of the sacraments.  Because we cannot know another’s heart as God can, we have to take their word that they are able to receive the sacrament and believe what the sacrament does.

In the case of communion, it has been said many times that the confessional is empty and the communion lines are full.  Logic, knowledge of human concupiscence, and just the results of some of the most recent surveys of Catholics tells us that there is something wrong with the picture, but in the communion line the Church applies presumption of faith because she has to.

It is only where a person publically advertises their sin and just as publically seeks communion while demonstrating no purpose of amendment (a requisite for a good confession if that confession had indeed taken place privately), it is only in that kind a circumstance that a public response is required to avert scandal.

Others holding the same views privately and acting upon those views could receive communion in an unworthy manner and the priest or bishop may never know because they are acting on the presumption of faith.

And so on.

Does that make any sense as a concept?

It does, though I’d tweak it a bit.

There is indeed a presumption that the Church makes in admitting people to Communion, though it isn’t just a presumption that they have faith. It also presumes that they meet the other requirements for Communion, such as being in a state of grace, having the proper dispositions, having fasted for an hour before the moment of Communion, and so forth. These are summed up under the heading of "worthiness to receive Communion" (which is a bit paradoxical given that immediately before Communion we say "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you," but there we are). I’d therefore phrase the presumption as a presumption of worthiness rather than a presumption of faith.

This presumption holds except in very specific cases. A Catholic presenting himself for holy Communion is not to be denied except unless he is prohibited by law from receiving. The Code of Canon Law provides:

Can.  912 Any baptized person not prohibited by law can and must be admitted to holy communion.

Now, there are people who are prohibited by law from receiving (e.g., because they’re in mortal sin, because they haven’t fasted, etc.), but in the practice of the Church the evaluation of these criteria is left to the individual communicant in the vast majority of cases. The only time in the Code that priest and other ministers of Communion are told not to give Communion to a person who presents himself is in the following canon:

Can.  915 Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.

Since declared excommunications (as opposed to automatic excommunications) and declared interdicts are as rare as hen’s teeth, the most commonly triggered part of this canon is that concerning "others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin." That means people who are publicly known to be involved in grave sin and who refuse to amend their ways.

As a practical matter, only those individuals are denied Communion (if even they are). Otherwise the presumption of worthiness to receive holy Communion operates.

Descended From David

A reader writes:

Jimmy, I have been bothered by the question of Jesus’ geneology.  A lot of scripture refers to Him as son of David, descended from David’s line etc., and I think it traces the geneology down through Joseph, who was not Jesus’ natural father.  Can you help me here?

A lot of folks have this question, and it’s natural to wonder about this.

It’s true that Jesus was not physically descended from Joseph and thus could not have been physically descended from David via Joseph. However, physical descent is not the only form of descent there is.

There’s also adoptive descent or legal descent.

This occurred in a variety of contexts in ancient Hebrew society. As members of a patriarchical society, everybody in Israel needed to be related to somebody in order to know their place in the world, and this led to a lot of adoptions, including adoptions that were done posthumously–after the death of the person "doing" the adoption.

That’s essentially what’s going on in the case of the levirate marriage. If a man died childless, his brother was expected to marry the widow in order to produce a son who would legally be the son of the dead man. That’s a kind of posthumous "adoption" of the son by his deceased legal father, who happens not to be the same individual as his biological father.

Yet this didn’t stop the son’s sons from being reckoned as the dead man’s grandsons. Legal descent was counted as descent in a real and binding way. In fact, in the case of the levirite marriage, legal descent was more important than biological descent, for producing a legal heir to the dead man was the whole reason for the levirite marriage to being with.

There is some evidence that levirite marriages occurred in the genealogies of Christ.

SEE HERE.

So if legal descent of that kind doesn’t interrupt the descent of Christ from David then Christ being legally but not biologically the son of Joseph wouldn’t either.

This, then, may be how we are to understand Christ’s descent from David: He was a legal heir of David and so he was a son of David. Period. The biology doesn’t matter.

Or it may be that there is more to it.

St. Paul says in Romans 1:3 that Christ was "descended from  David according to the flesh." There’s a question here about how literally he means the word "flesh." He may just mean it to mean "humanly," in which case he could just be thinking of Christ’s legal descent from David via Joseph.

But he may mean the term more literally than that. If he does then . . . well . . . Christ got flesh from Mary, so perhaps Mary was also a descendant of David and Christ received biological descent from David in that fashion.

Helping With Secret Project #4!

If you’re a regular JA.O blog reader who lives in Southern California–within driving distance of El Cajon–I’ve got a special offer.

Catholic Answers wants to accelerate the work being done on Secret Project #4, and we’re looking for local folks to help us from home!

To help, you’d need:

1) A computer
2) A word processor (preferably Microsoft Word; if not that then something compatible)
3) E-mail
4) To be able to drive or otherwise get to Catholic Answers to pick up materials.
5) Some free time between now and mid-August (a number of hours worth, the more the better, though as few as six would do) and
6) To keep quiet about what is revealed to you about the project.

This is help that could be done at night or on weekends. Responsible older teenagers wanting some extra Summer money would be able to help with it as well.

It’s not at all hard or complex work–just doing very simple things in a word processor (in fact, it could be a bit unchallenging).

There would be some modest pay ($$) involved, and in addition you’d have our profound thanks (!!) and the knowledge that you helped with a project that has the potential to revolutionize the field of apologetics.

If you’re interested, E-MAIL ME and let me know your availability and phone number.

Thanks much, folks!